Thirteen proved to be not so lucky for the Okotoks Jr. B Bisons.
Okotoks saw its thirteen game winning streak in the Heritage Junior Hockey League come to an end in dramatic fashion as the top-seed Cochrane Generals scored in the final minute of overtime to take a 4-3 South Division thriller Sunday afternoon at Murray Arena.
“It’s too bad we lost, but I thought the effort was pretty good,” said Bisons captain Mark McLeod. “We still haven’t lost in regulation since November. We got a point today and were a minute away from going to a shootout.
“There are a lot of positives we can take out of this loss.”
There was little to choose from the traditional foes despite an early jump from the visitors.
Cochrane’s Brandon Aab scored on the powerplay just 73 seconds from puck-drop only to have Okotoks’ Brennan Fuoco repeat the feat on the man-advantage to produce the 1-1 scoreline after 20 minutes.
Okotoks vaulted in front when Kyle Dunville slipped through the slot and squeezed his shot through Cochrane’s Ty Robinson in goal. McLeod then doubled the lead as he gathered a head of steam in the neutral zone, skated around a defender and found the far corner on a terrific individual effort.
The Generals, the top scoring team in the league by a wide margin, would answer back through Talus Hume and Chad Harrison to level the score at 3-3 at the second intermission.
Netminder Matthew McDonald then put in a herculean effort to get the game to overtime, turning aside clear-cut breakaway opportunities to Aab and Slater Ransom.
“He’s just playing with confidence, he’s been talking to us lots,” said Bisons defenceman Jaret Bordt. “We’ve been talking to him, motivating him. He makes us comfortable back there.”
Facing 59 shots by the end of the afternoon, the netminder could only do so much in the extra session. An ill-timed spearing major to Robbie McLean gave the Generals a four-on-three powerplay. They would make it count as league-leading sniper Connor Rendell sniped his 43rd goal of the season to end proceedings in the final minute of overtime.
Okotoks opened the weekend set in a 6-5 overtime win over the Coaldale Copperheads, Saturday night in the Snake Pit.
“We wanted to compete hard and we got three out of four points from two of the top teams in the league,” McLeod said. “We faced some adversity both games and it’s definitely a weekend we can learn from.”
Josh McCulloch potted his team leading 26th marker to clinch the two points and sew up the hat-trick and four-point performance. McLean, Connor Tudor and Tyler Rohl also found the back of the net in the seesaw affair.
“We let them back in it in the second, but we knew in the second intermission we had to show the type of team we had,” McLeod added. “Everyone competed, everyone contributed to a team win.”
With six games remaining in the regular season the Bisons have a little breathing room in the form of a five-point cushion on the Snakes in the race for second in the South.
Cochrane is eight points clear of Okotoks and need just two wins to clinch top-spot.
“This weekend was huge for us,” Bordt said. “We came into it thinking this was a prove to ourselves kind of test to see how we were going to play. We did really well.
“We can put this behind us and keep looking forward for the next weekend and keep working hard. We’re playing well and can keep that up.”
Okotoks will look to start a new run of wins on Jan. 20 when it makes the trip to Stettler to tackle the Lightning. The weekend wraps up at Murray Arena on Jan. 22 when the defending league champion Mountainview Colts make the visit for the matinee. Puck-drop is 1:15 p.m.
For more information go to okotoksbisons.com
